No. 21 A&M falls to No. 3 Tennessee in 10-inning series opener, 2-1

After a 10-inning battle riddled with an hour-long lightning delay, No. 21 Texas A&M fell to No. 3 Tennessee on Friday night, 2-1. 

“Tough one tonight but a lot of good stuff,” A&M head coach Trisha Ford said. “I think there are lots of things to be in a good space with. That was a heck of a battle and the first game of the series.”

Pitching was the highlight for both teams at Davis Diamond tonight. Aggie starting pitcher Emily Leavitt held a no-hitter until the fifth inning when she gave up a single to Rylie West. Tennessee standout pitcher Ashley Rogers carried a no-hitter herself until the bottom of the 10th when Allie Enright singled. 

Leavitt had an impressive showing inside the circle, tallying seven strikeouts and allowing just one hit and one walk through 4.2 innings of work. Shaylee Ackerman relieved Leavitt in the top of the fifth inning. Ackerman tallied three strikeouts and yielded three hits, two runs and two walks through 5.1 innings. 

“Pitching like that gives me a lot of confidence, and even the fact that Shaylee did really well, I think that just shows all of us that we have that capability,” Leavitt said. 

With dominanting pitching, neither offense could gather any of the momentum that was shown on the defensive side. The switch was finally flipped in the final inning of the game with Tennessee coming alive to win. 

Tennessee took control of the game in the top of the 10th when Katie Taylor doubled to left field to give the Lady Vols their third hit of the night. Kiki Milloy followed up with a single to right. 

After taking advantage of the A&M’s pitching, Zaida Puni then came in and reached on a fielding error by Koko Wooley and brought Taylor and Miloy home to put the first runs of the night on the board. 

“Coach Hager was in my ear about keeping Ackerman in, but I just went with my gut,” Ford said. “I thought that Shaylee’s stuff was matching-up well with where we were at in the lineup. Kennedy was warm but I wanted to bring her in during a different part of the lineup.”

After a one-hour and twenty-minute lightning delay, the Maroon & White came out in the bottom of the 10th inning with zero outs and Enright on first. However, Amari Harper could not tie the game up and flew out to center field, marking the first out of the inning. 

Keely Williams followed suit with a groundout to first base but moved Enright into scoring position. Enright was able to score the Aggies’ first run off of a wild pitch from Rogers. Morgan Smith walked, which led to Rogers being relieved after an exhausting 183 pitches in the circle. 

Julia Cottrill then came up to the bag and slammed a ball to left field, putting the Aggies in position to overtake the Lady Vols in the 10th. Yet, Trinity Cannon couldn’t finish the comeback and flew out to right field. 

“They are going to show up, they think they have it in the bag and that’s just not the case,” Rylen Wiggins said. “I think we showed them that tonight. We had them on the ropes and they were nervous.”

The Aggies will continue their series with the Lady Vols tomorrow at 1 p.m. CT at Davis Diamond.